Helmet

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer BOONSBORO - A volunteer firefighter, dressed in full uniform and air mask, gave a demonstration to a group of children at an open house recently. Kathy Snyder, of Crystal Falls Drive, said her 2-year-old son recoiled in terror at the strange-looking man. "It looks like a man from outer space," conceded Oley Griffith, chief of the First Hose Co. of Boonsboro. Snyder said her son's fear sparked a question: If he was terrified of a firefighter during a demonstration, how would he react in an actual fire?

When I rode a bicycle across the country in 1976, two of the 15 members of our group wore helmets. One was the group leader, so she had to. The other wore a helmet out of choice, and we spent the next 4,280 miles trying to ridicule away her beliefs about safety. I believe I was first told I should really be wearing a bicycle helmet sometime in the mid-'80s. By that time, there had been enough taxpayer-funded studies of the skull/macadam dynamic that science was pretty sure an inch or two of fiberglass would be an asset to those compelled to, from time to time, go flying over their handlebars.

Knitted helmet liners to help keep soldiers warm By MARLO BARNHART marlob@herald-mail.com HALFWAY - Just back from a tour of duty in Korea, Melissa Barrett Morrow knows all too well how cold it can get in today's war zones. "In Korea, it is either winter or summer - there is no spring or fall," the Williamsport High School and U.S. Military Academy graduate said. With little or no protection between a military helmet and the wearer's head, discomfort often mounts as the temperature drops, Morrow said.

It was Aug. 17, 1944, when Lt. Jason H. Barron and five of his men found themselves on the outskirts of Lougé-sur-Maire, a small French town, in the midst of World War II. They slept little the night before, and the fighting had been intense for days. Many casualties dotted the landscape. The wounded were moaning and dying for lack of medical attention, and the holes in the earth caused by exploding tank and artillery shells were multiplying. As the twilight softly whispered to these soldiers that a new day was approaching, perhaps Lt. Barron's first thought that morning was of home and his young wife, Eunice; maybe he thought about his mother and father, and prayed they were not worrying about him; perhaps he wondered about his brother Emerson's whereabouts and his safety.

HAGERSTOWN pepperb@herald-mail.com A man whose application to become Hagerstown's mayor was denied because he lives outside city limits was sentenced Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court to serve eight months in jail for violating his probation. The sentence for Darrell Robert McCammon came after he admitted that he violated his probation, in part by stealing a police bicycle helmet in July. On his application for mayor, McCammon, 51, of 1524 Howell Road, listed his name as Darrell "Bikeman" McCammon.

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. - A Hedgesville man was injured Friday when he lost control of a motorcycle and was thrown into a rocky embankment, according to police. Dustan Duvall, 19, had little to no experience riding a motorcycle when the accident happened about 7:30 p.m. on Beard's Crossing Road, off Allensville Road, West Virginia State Police Trooper J.D. Bird said. For an unknown reason, Duvall lost control of the Harley-Davidson V-Rod and crashed not far from his home. He was wearing a helmet, although Bird said he was not certain if the helmet was an appropriate, certified one. A family member indicated to Bird that Duvall had never before driven a motorcycle, Bird said.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. --Â A Greencastle, Pa., man remained in critical condition Tuesday after he was injured Friday in an ATV accident. Christopher Ecton, 21, was not wearing a helmet when he crashed in the area of Garnes Road in Montgomery Township, Pa., Pennsylvania State Police said. Ecton was flown to Altoona Regional Hospital in Altoona, Pa., troopers said. A spokeswoman at the hospital said Tuesday morning that Ecton was in critical condition. - Erin Julius

Editor's Note: Tim Rowland is on vacation. This column first appeared on Aug. 29, 2005. When I rode a bicycle across the country in 1976, two of the 15 members of our group wore helmets. One was the group leader, so she had to. The other wore a helmet out of choice, and we spent the next 4,280 miles trying to ridicule away her beliefs about safety. I believe I was first told I should really be wearing a bicycle helmet sometime in the mid-'80s. By that time there had been enough taxpayer-funded studies of the skull/macadam dynamic that science was pretty sure an inch or two of fiberglass would be an asset to those compelled to, from time to time, go flying over their handlebars.

BOONSBORO - Donald Shumaker, president of the Boonsboro Volunteer Fire Co., said he had a lot of people tell him they could get it done for 8-year-old Devin Fales. Former Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr.'s autograph on the leather firefighter helmet displayed at a fundraiser held Saturday for the anemia-afflicted youngster wouldn't be that difficult to obtain. At least that's what Shumaker was led to believe. "I spent five years trying to get that thing signed," Shumaker said.

Skateboarders love to get creative with their launch pads - witness the "pole jam" on this page, but they also enjoy staged setups. Hagerstown's Skate Park, under the grandstands at Fairgrounds Park, is one of a few places in the Tri-State area with courses set up for skateboarders. The park is open 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Skateboarding costs $3 on Wednesdays and $5 on weekends. If riders don't have their own helmet and pads - which are required to use the facilities - they can be rented for $1.

New football helmets, carts to carry laptop computers around schools and cameras to mount inside school buses are some of the items Washington County Public Schools is buying this fiscal year as part of budget adjustments. The schedule to replace the helmets and carts was accelerated, and several requests by managers for supplies, rather than equipment, were granted by transferring $751,390 for instructional textbooks and supplies, according to third-quarter budget adjustments the Board of Education unanimously approved Tuesday.

Ron Little spends little on campaign race As hundreds of thousands of dollars circulate in the Democratic race for the 6th Congressional District seat, one candidate said that he is proud to stay out of the money race. In a campaign email, Ron Little, running a low-budget campaign, wrote that it could cost $90,000 to reach half of the people in the 6th District one time through the mail, so he's using social media, email, local newspaper ads, word of mouth and door-knocking.

It was Aug. 17, 1944, when Lt. Jason H. Barron and five of his men found themselves on the outskirts of Lougé-sur-Maire, a small French town, in the midst of World War II. They slept little the night before, and the fighting had been intense for days. Many casualties dotted the landscape. The wounded were moaning and dying for lack of medical attention, and the holes in the earth caused by exploding tank and artillery shells were multiplying. As the twilight softly whispered to these soldiers that a new day was approaching, perhaps Lt. Barron's first thought that morning was of home and his young wife, Eunice; maybe he thought about his mother and father, and prayed they were not worrying about him; perhaps he wondered about his brother Emerson's whereabouts and his safety.

There is solitude in combat - thoughts and fears that every soldier personally holds within his heart. Who knows what six young Americans were feeling on Aug. 17, 1944, as they walked along a cobblestone road in Louge-sur-Maire, France. Fighting to liberate the area, they suddenly came under German fire and were killed. Although 67 years have passed since that summer day, the six Army soldiers never have been forgotten - not by the villagers who still consider them heroes.

Franklin County (Pa.) Emergency Services reports incident The following incident was reported Tuesday by Franklin County (Pa.) Emergency Services: At 5:08 a.m., a residential fire alarm in the 100 block of Walnut Dale Road in Cumberland County. Bicyclist taken to hospital after collision with car A Hagerstown man was taken to Meritus Medical Center after his bicycle collided with a car Monday evening at the intersection of Eastern and Jefferson boulevards, according to Deputy 1st Class Jay Mills of the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Students at St. John’s Preschool recently strapped on their helmets and rode their tricycles for a good cause. The school held a trike-a-thon benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “I think this is a pretty good idea because the money will maybe help a sick child get better,” said Eliason Arnett, a student in Lisa Appleby’s 4-year-old class, when asked what the trike-a-thon meant to him. The parents, staff and children were given pledge forms and raised more than $1,600 for the cause.

HAGERSTOWN -- As they prepare to retire from the business of firefighting, Gary Hawbaker and Ron Horn would like people to understand they have spent their adult lives doing more than putting out fires. "Our efforts since 1987 in the Hagerstown Fire Department have resulted in a 75 percent decrease in structure fires," said Hawbaker, a Greencastle, Pa., native who has been fire chief in Hagerstown since 1985. He is proud of that record, which seems to illustrate the worth of the department's efforts at fire prevention, efforts he said will continue.

The story made headlines everywhere this past May: A local family was invited to France to reclaim the helmet of a beloved Jason Barron, killed during World War II. Now, Barron's niece, Halfway resident Linda Barron Heinrich, has published a book recounting the entire story, with hopes that it will inspire others to honor the legacies of fallen soldiers. The book, "Jason's Helmet: The True Story of a Helmet's Journey Home From the Battlefield," is available at Borders in Hagerstown and Turn The Page bookstore in Boonsboro.